step 1What you need

I saw a lampshade made out of the shape below at a friend's house, so I traced the shape and made
my own. the lamp i saw used thin plastic for the pieces. I believe the original design for this lamp
was done over 30 years ago by the firm Iqlight, they sell pre-cut parts in case you do not want to
make the parts yourself.

Below is the shape as an image, and i've also attached a DXF file.

You will need sheets of paper or plastic that allow light to get through. The stiffness of your material
determines how large your pieces can be - stiffer material for larger pieces and larger lamps, thinner
material for smaller pieces and smaller lamps. (see next step)

You will need a lamp fixture - just a raw socket on a cord. I found some nice ones at Ikea for $4, and
some fluorescent bulbs. Use a compact fluorescent bulb so you can get more light without melting
the plastic.

I experimented with a number of different plastics and sizes for the parts, here are my results:

- HDPE: works well, looks good, cheap and easy to get. I used 0.8mm thick stock for 8cm pieces
(measured flat-side to flat-side). That's about the smallest you'd want to go with that thickness, you
could go up to 12 or 15cm with that thickness. this is the least expensive plastic by far. One of the
commenters suggested using plastic milk-bottles, which are made of HDPE, this is a good idea!

- Acetal (delrin): this seems to be the best choice for looks, it has the purest white color and best
light dispersion (basically, looks just like acrylic except it doesn't crack as easily). I used 0.35mm
stock for 6cm and 8cm pieces, and 0.5mm stock for 8-12cm pieces, and 0.65mm stock for 12-15cm
pieces. It still is a little brittle and harder to work with than HDPE, and more expensive. if you cut this
with scissors it will be somewhat tricky due to the brittleness, but possible.

- Vinyl: I did not try it, probably want to use thicker pieces since it is not very stiff. but you can use
colors!

- Paper: I did not try paper but it should be good for smaller constructions.

- Laminated paper: this is a great idea suggested in the coments section. try laminating color tissue
paper, then cut the pieces from that. very unique and colorful!

- Acrylic: too brittle, it will crack when you try to assemble. too bad!

- Nylon: has a yellow-ish look when lit up which makes it undesirable.

- for a large construction use stiffer material for the same size piece. ie, if you are making a
lampshade with 12 pieces use thinner material than if you are making a shade with 100 pieces,
assuming same size pieces.

Where to get it:

HDPE 1/32" sheet: sheet: http://www.usplastics.com item number 42584

Acetal sheet, 0.015" and 0.020":: http://www.mcmaster.com item number 8738K52 and 8738K53